Red-Haired Ash Reads

This is a retelling of the romance of Patroclus and Achilles. It chronicles Achilles life from childhood until his downfall in Troy and all the events that lead to that fate. While this is the story of Achilles, it’s all told from Patroclus’ POV, even after his death. 

This has been a very popular Greek retelling and it has been on my radar for a while now, but I was apprehensive about reading it because I am not a huge fan of Greek mythology. That being said, I enjoyed this and can understand why people raved about this book. If I enjoyed stories from Greek mythology, I probably would have rated this higher. 

Patroclus was a fantastic narrator of this story. He chronicles their childhoods together, their love, the war in Troy, and his and Achilles’ deaths. I was very captivated by the amount of emotion that Miller was able to capture in these two’s stories. It was so emotional and moving, especially towards the end. 

Patroclus was a really great character, even if he always bowed to Achilles’ will. Achilles on the other hand was an arrogant and cocky guy, who I didn’t love, especially towards the end when he was willing to let horrible deeds happen just because of his pride. I probably would not have enjoyed this book if it had been told by his POV or had switched between them. 

While I did enjoy this book overall, I will admit I struggled with the first half of the book because it was a bit boring for me. It covers their childhoods and teenage years before the war, which I totally understand why it was important, but it was a bit slow for me. But, I was hooked in the second half of the book with the war against Troy. 

The second half of the book was action packed and filled with a lot of relationship development between Patrocls and Achilles. Also, it was surprisingly emotional. We see the slow downfall of Achilles as he lets his arrogance cloud his actions and his morals become corrupt. Miller really did a great job at capturing the emotions of Patroclus’ feelings for all of these changes, but also the grief of Achilles after his death. 

My only other complaint was the treatment of women in this. I know that was a part of that era of the world, but it felt like it was constantly being thrown in your face. For some people this might not be a big deal, but for me it felt like it was always being thrown in there and it got a bit jarring after a while because it took me away from Patroclus and Achilles romance. 

Overall, while this isn’t my usual reading choice, I did enjoy this. Miller did a great job at bringing a classic to life. If you are a fan of Greek mythology, I would highly recommend this book. 

TW: misogyny; slavery; rape; child abuse and neglect; self harm; blood and gore; murder; ritual sacrifices;  torture; kidnapping; animal death; war theme and military violence; grief; 

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